“Container Farms: A New Type of Agriculture” – Transport Topics

Transport Topics spotlighted Tiger Corner Farms on Aug. 20, 2018 as innovators within the produce industry for “breaking the boundaries of food production — by growing crops not in fields, but in recycled shipping containers.”

Through Grow Food Carolina, a nonprofit organization focused on preserving farming in South Carolina, Tiger Corner Farms has partnered with two other companies: Vertical Roots and Boxcar Central. Tiger Corner Farms manufactures farming units from recycled shipping containers, Boxcar Central works on the automation of the hardware and software used for these container farms, and Vertical Roots deals with the production of the produce.

With Tiger Corner Farms’ shipping container farms, Vertical Roots can increase food production. Having 13 farms in total, Vertical Roots is able to produce about 40,000 heads of lettuce in about half the time it would take a traditional farm.

Vertical Roots sells its produce to grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Harris Teeter.

For Vertical Roots, founded by Andrew Hare and Matt Daniels, working with Tiger Corner Farms was a no-brainer.

“Providing cleaner, fresher, better access to food was something all four of us were wanting to do. They wanted to provide jobs and educate people on the importance of sustainable agriculture, and we wanted to do the same thing,” said Hare, Vertical Roots’ gen­eral manager. “We wanted to bring transparency and education and empowering our com­munity in knowing where their food comes from and how important the freshness and quality is.”